Even Today’s Top Earners Might Not Be Fully Prepared for Retirement

Most people have retirement at least in the back of their minds but plenty of people haven’t taken the necessary steps and followed through to be on track to save ahead for everything they’ll need in their golden years, including how to pay for healthcare expenses.

Income only goes a certain part of the way and determining how much a person has set aside for retirement and the remainder of the details surrounding whether or not a person has appropriately prepared to retire has to do with whether or not a person has access to a 401(k) and which assets are selected to go in that 401(k) by the employer. According to a recent study shared by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, even the top earners today don’t have enough as most people would expect them to have.

The researchers looked at the retirement savings of people ages 51 to 56, using IRS tax data and the health and retirement study and was carried out over the course of two years. The study found a broad range in preparedness levels among the people in the top one fifth of the earnings distribution, suspecting that many people who would traditionally be classified as prosperous could struggle financially as they get older in age.

The study found that just 3% of people between the ages of 51 and 56 who earn over $80,000 a year have reached the $1 million savings goal that is suggested by experts. Around 130 people between those same ages who earn greater than $80,000 a year have less than $200,000 saved for retirement. If you are ready to sit down with an experienced estate planning attorney and talk over your options, schedule a meeting today.